Book of Common Prayer
A Davidic Psalm
Remembering God’s Love
101 I will sing about gracious love and justice;
Lord, I will sing praise to you.
2 I will pay attention to living a life of integrity—
when will I attain it?
I will live with integrity of heart in my house.
3 I will not even think about doing anything lawless;
I hate to do evil deeds;
I will have none of it.
4 I will not allow anyone with a perverted mind in my presence;
I will not be involved with[a] anything evil.
5 I will destroy the one who secretly slanders a friend.
I will not allow the proud and haughty to prevail.
6 My eyes are looking at the faithful of the land,
so they may live with me;
The one who lives a life of integrity will serve me.
7 A deceitful person will not sit in my house;
A liar will not remain in my presence.
8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
eliminating everyone who practices iniquity from the Lord’s city.
To the Director. A Davidic psalm.
A Prayer against the Evil One
109 God, whom I praise,
do not be silent,
2 for the mouths of wicked and deceitful people
are opened against me;
they speak against me with lying tongues.
3 They surround me with hate-filled words,
attacking me for no reason.
4 Instead of receiving[a] my love, they accuse me,
though I continue in prayer.
5 They devise evil against me instead of good,
and hatred in place of my love.
6 Appoint an evil person over him;
may an accuser stand at his right side.[b]
7 When he is judged, may he be found guilty;
may his prayer be regarded as sin.
8 May his days be few;
may another take over his position.[c]
9 May his children become fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children roam around begging,
seeking food[d] while driven far[e] from their ruined homes.
11 May creditors seize all his possessions,
and may foreigners loot the property he has acquired.[f]
12 May no one extend gracious love to him,
or show favor to his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants[g] be eliminated,
and their memory[h] be erased from the next generation.
14 May his ancestors’ guilt be remembered in the Lord’s presence,
and may his mother’s guilt not be erased.
15 May what[i] they have done[j] be continually in the Lord’s presence;
and may their memory be excised from the earth.
16 For he didn’t think to extend gracious love;
he harassed to death the poor, the needy, and the broken hearted.[k]
17 He loved to curse—may his curses[l] return upon him!
He took no delight in blessing others[m]—
so may blessings[n] be far from him.
18 He wore curses like a garment—
may they[o] enter his inner being like water
and his bones like oil.
19 May those curses[p] wrap around him like a garment,
or like a belt that one always wears.
20 May this be the way the Lord repays my accuser,
those who speak evil against me.
21 Now you, Lord my God, defend[q] me for your name’s sake;
because your gracious love is good, deliver me!
22 Indeed, I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am fading[r] away like a shadow late in the day;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way[s] from fasting,
and my skin is lean, deprived of oil.
25 I have become an object of derision to them—
they shake their heads whenever they see me.
26 Help me, Lord my God!
Deliver me in accord with your gracious love!
27 Then they will realize that your hand is in this—
that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
28 They will curse,
but you will bless.
When they attack,[t] they will[u] be humiliated,
while your servant rejoices.
29 May my accusers be clothed with shame
and wrapped in their humiliation as with a robe.
30 I will give many thanks to the Lord with my mouth,
praising him publicly,
Ayin
Praying for God’s Deliverance
121 I have acted with justice and righteousness;
do not abandon me to my oppressors.
122 Back up your servant in a positive way;
do not let the arrogant oppress me.
123 My eyes fail as I look[a] for your salvation
and for your righteous promise.
124 Act toward your servant consistent with your gracious love,
and teach me your statutes.
125 Since I am your servant, give me understanding,
so I will know your decrees.
126 It is time for the Lord to act,
since they have violated your instruction.[b]
127 I truly love your commands more than gold,
including fine gold.
128 I truly consider all of your precepts—all of them—to be just,
while I despise every false way.
Peyh
Living in God’s Word
129 Your decrees are wonderful—
that’s why I observe them.
130 The disclosure of your words illuminates,
providing understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant
as I long for your commands.
132 Turn in my direction and show mercy to me,
as you have decreed regarding those who love your name.
133 Direct my footsteps by your promise,
and do not let any kind of iniquity rule over me.
134 Deliver me from human oppression
and I will keep your precepts.
135 Show favor to[c] your servant,
and teach me your statutes.
136 My eyes shed rivers of tears,
when others do not obey your instruction.[d]
Tsade
God’s Righteous Decrees
137 Lord, you are righteous,
and your judgments are right.
138 You have ordered your decrees to us rightly,
and they are very faithful.
139 My zeal consumes me
because my enemies forget your words.
140 Your word is very pure,
and your servant loves it.
141 Though I may be small and despised,
I do not neglect your precepts.
142 Your righteousness is an eternal righteousness,
and your instruction[e] is true.
143 Though trouble and anguish overwhelm me,
your commands remain my delight.
144 Your righteous decrees are eternal;
give me understanding, and I will live.
15 Manoah responded to the angel of the Lord, “Please, let us detain you while we prepare a young goat for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “If you detain me, I won’t be eating your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, you’ll be making a sacrifice to the Lord.” The angel of the Lord[a] said this[b] because Manoah didn’t know that he was the angel of the Lord.
17 Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What’s your name, because when what you’ve said happens, we’ll glorify[c] you?”
18 The angel of the Lord answered him, “Why are you asking this about my name? It’s ‘Wonderful.’”[d]
19 So Manoah prepared a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a boulder to the Lord, who kept on performing miracles while Manoah and his wife watched continually. 20 When the burnt offering was engulfed in flames that sprang up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame that came from the altar. When Manoah and his wife observed this, they collapsed on their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife, and then Manoah knew confidently that the visitor[e] had been the angel of the Lord.
22 Then Manoah told his wife, “We’re going to die for sure, because we’ve seen God!”
23 But his wife replied to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us,[f] he wouldn’t have shown us all these things, and he wouldn’t have permitted us to hear things[g] like this, now would he?”[h]
24 Later on, the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.[i] The child grew strong and the Lord blessed him.
Seven Men are Chosen to Help the Apostles
6 In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. 2 So the Twelve called the whole group of disciples together and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect messages from[a] God in order to wait on tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, appoint seven men among you who have a good reputation, who are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we’ll put them in charge of this work. 4 Then we’ll devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 This suggestion pleased the whole group. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a gentile convert to Judaism from Antioch. 6 They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God[b] continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem continued to grow rapidly. Even a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Stephen is Arrested
8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 But some men who belonged to the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), as well as some Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and began to debate with Stephen. 10 But they could neither refute the wisdom nor withstand the Spirit by which he kept speaking. 11 So they secretly got some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. Then they rushed at Stephen,[c] grabbed him, and brought him before the Council.[d]
13 They had false witnesses stand up and say, “This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law. 14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus from Nazareth[e] will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” 15 Then everyone who was seated in the Council[f] glared at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Jesus Meets a Samaritan Woman
4 Now when Jesus[a] realized that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although it was not Jesus who did the baptizing but his disciples— 3 he left Judea and went back to Galilee. 4 Now it was necessary for him to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Well was also there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.[b]
7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus told her, “Please give me a drink,” 8 since his disciples had gone off into town to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” Because Jews do not have anything to do with Samaritans.[c]
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Please give me a drink,’ you would have been the one to ask him, and he would have given you living water.”
11 The woman[d] told him, “Sir, you don’t have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water? 12 You’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, along with his sons and his flocks, are you?”
13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become a well of water for him, springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman told him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I won’t get thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go and call your husband, and come back here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I don’t have a husband.”
Jesus told her, “You are quite right in saying, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ 18 because you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman told him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet! 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews[e] say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, dear lady,[f] the hour is coming when you Samaritans[g] will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews[h] know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. 23 Yet the time is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit[i] and truth. Indeed, the Father is looking for people like that to worship him. 24 God is spirit,[j] and those who worship him must worship in spirit[k] and truth.”
25 The woman told him, “I know that the Anointed One[l] is coming, who is being called ‘the Messiah’.[m] When that person comes, he will explain everything.”
26 “I AM,” Jesus replied, “the one who is speaking to you.”
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